Borough officials have been utilizing the emergency reverse 9-1-1 call system known as Swift Reach for two years.
And in that time, officials said that the system has failed to contact residents about important matters.
"Every time we used Swift Reach like the last time when we tried to put out notifications… when the Hackensack water company pump went down… it didn’t work," Old Tappan Police Chief Joseph Fasulo said.
So, at an anticipated $7,500 cost per year that the Borough and school district will share, Old Tappan is considering switching to a service Code Red provides —a company based in Florida. This package would include a certain amount of free minutes that the high school, Police Department, Borough, PTA and the elementary schools would use. Currently, Swift Reach charges a fee per call and in Old Tappan the police department uses the program to announce such things as emergencies or flu shot availability. The school district’s notices go through the high school’s own Swift Reach agreement.
Fasulo said a meeting would be held "sometime next week" in which Code Red would give a virtual presentation. Regional high school and elementary school representatives will be invited to attend so they can decide whether or not to share the service’s cost.
Fasulo said the county system had not been delivering messages to many households and that there have been "problems all along." He attributed the problems to Swift Reach working with data that is not up to date.
Fasulo said the borough is "looking at all different avenues" in addressing the problem. The borough found out about Code Red because the system is used in Tenafly, he said.
"If other companies are out there we are going to look at them too but this is the first one that we’re coming up to," said Fasulo.
